Fitchet

The fitchet ( Mustela putorius putorius ) is an animal of the family of the Mustélidés close to the Belette, Vison, Loutre and Hermine. The Furet ( Mustela putorius furo ) is the domestic form fitchet.

The Fitchet of Europe (Mustela putorius) has a color close to brown dark with a clearer head. It is appreciably larger than the weasel and the hermine, measurement 50 cm length and weighs between 0,7 kg for the females and 1,7 kg for the males.

Behavior

The maximum life expectancy known in nature is of 4 or 5 years and 14 years in captivity. It is an animal primarily night, quiet, furtive, and rather discrete. It meets in forest but especially in the wet places: border ponds and marsh. It often digs its burrow under the roots of the trees.

Its food is mainly made up of Grenouille S and Campagnol S, but also sometimes of Rat S or other small preys. It is often considered that one of its favorite preys is the Wild rabbit which it surprises in its burrow, but it incorporates rabbit only in its mode of summer. More rarely, it can be caught some to the young person Lièvre of which it goes up the trace. For these last preys which often exceed it cuts some (the such rabbit), it is generally satisfied to bleed them with dead and to devour the noble bodies then (liver, heart, lungs). It is known also as predatory Caille S and Perdrix surprised on the ground, of night, during their sleep. For its relative Predation exerted on small the Game, it was the object a long time, wrongly, of a intensive Piégeage. According to the professor Thierry Lodé, specialist in the species, his vital domain extends on one square kilometer and the species is capable of hybrider with the very rare Vison of Europe ( Mustela lutreola ).

It seldom climbs but plunges and swims very well. If it is in danger, it glousse, whistles and thunders. Under the effect of fright or pain, it releases the contents of its anal Glande S in the shape of an aerosol whose unpleasant odor was worth the name to him of “puant”. Clothing which is impregnated is made unusable for at least 24 hours so much the odor in is unbearable.

The coupling takes place in March - April. The nest (cluster of dry grasses, feathers and hairs) is dissimulated in a cavity of tree or wall, under faggots or in an abandoned burrow. The female puts low once per annum, in June - July, after a six weeks gestation. Its range counts from three to seven small measuring six to seven centimetres and covers of a close-cropped sleeping bag and blanchâtre. They tètent at least a month but eat meat brought by the mother as of the three weeks age. In three months they reach the size of the adults who live five to six years and reach their sexual maturity in 9 months.

The fitchet is, with the sheep and the man, one of the only species for which an exclusive male homosexuality could be observed in the natural environment

Ecological interest

It is one of rare predatory to attack with the Muskrat (of which the size is comparable with that of the Wild rabbit), but also the Surmulot. Its principal preys are reproduced on the list of the classified as species “Nuisible S” by order of the prefect (France) and that thus confers a positive role to him. When the fitchet does not have larger preys to put itself under the tooth, one estimates at a thousand the number of small Rongeur S destroyed each year by this Prédateur. Moreover, since a score of years, several European countries protect the unit from mustélidés, except sometimes for the Fouine which causes devastations in the hen houses and the pigeon badly protecteds.

Concerning the fitchet, only is seldom announced damage in Clapier S or decayed Poulailler S (disjoined boards, perforated netting, doors dislocated or closing badly…).

However, the Trapping as well as the disappearance of a great number of wild rabbits because of the Myxomatose contributed to its rarefaction. The modification of moist environments as well as the water pollution are also elements not to be neglected.

Confusion

The amalgams made in particular in the cartoons and the cartoons (like Beautiful Fleur in Bambi and Bambi 2 of Walt Disney Pictures, Pépé the fitchet at Warner Bros., or Stella in Our neighbors the men of DreamWorks) brought a confusion in the spirit of many people: the black and white animal with mixed tail emitting a nauseous perfume which populates the imaginary collective, is actually the Mouffette, species of a family different from the fitchets. The fitchet emits certainly the same unpleasant odor, but is brown.

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